UEF attended the 13th Forest Pedagogics Congress in Finland

Friday, November 02 , 2018 4701

Finland organized in Pudasjärvi the 13th Congress of Forest Pedagogics from 2 to 5 October 2018.

Union of European Foresters was represented by Thomas Baschny, UEF secretary, member of the UEF Presidency.

The main topic of the Congress was about "TOGETHER: how to involve and participate children and teenagers in learning, decision making and planning.

More than 100 participants from 17countries attended the meeting in Finland, hosted by Finnish 4H Federation and Finnish Forest Association.
It took place in the beautufil scenery of youth and leisure centre Pikku-Syöte.

The opening ceremony of the congress was at Syöte National Park’s Visitor Centre. Oulu region mayor Pauli Harju welcomed the participants of the congress.
One congress day was spent at the Pudasjärvi Log Campus, the world’s biggest log school. Finnish Log industry was introduced at Kontio Log House Factory.
Principal Mikko Lumme and Counsellor of Education Marjaana Manninen gave an introduction to the new Finnish National Core Curriculum. The aspect was forestpedagogics, emphasising participatory and multidisciplinary learning.
Maria Ojala (Örebro University) described how to rise young people’s hope in the world fulled with environmental problems. It is essential to activate positive feelings, handle issues collectively and that the young people have trust on the grown upps’ world.

During the congress days the participants created collective vision about future forest. The vision was created by the help of Science Centre Pilke’s Bio Era vision table.
The congress participants gave their vision about the future forest. The question was: “What do you expect that the future forest will offer you?”.

The UEF Presidency

Many thanks to Vilma Issakainen, from the Finnish Forest Association, who provides us some photos from the Congress.